Created in 1997 by Biominas Brasil, a biobusiness company based in the state of Minas Gerais, the incubator Habitat provides infrastructure and specialized services to budding bioscience startups from across Brazil. The incubator facility currently houses 16 companies, but by 2011 it had been used by a total of 44 companies, with a joint turnover while under development of R$ 120 million. According to a study by Biominas and PriceWaterhouseCoopers, there are now 271 biosciences companies in Brazil – 143 of which biotech companies.
Biosciences companies must obtain licenses to do business in Brazil, which takes an average of two years. While they are at the incubator, the companies share the costs of facilities such as cold storage rooms.
Among the companies housed at Habitat are Bioaptus, producer of a synthetic antibody; Ampligenix, which makes and sells biotech products; and Technodry Liofilizados Médicos, which produces collagen from beef.
Source: Revista Valor, Especial – Inovação de Alto a Baixo | June 2012
